See 0:24:
There’s a…report on that going around now…it calls into…question this prayer that people customarily say at the end of the decades of the rosary, “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of [your] mercy. …about 30 years ago or so, I was questioning that…I voiced my concern about that and I actually started digging into it and asked some other people…digging into it. Remember, we’re talking about Portugal, so we’re looking into Portuguese. And in fact, we did find, I’m talking about 30 years ago, the...text of that prayer, as Lucia gave it, did not say, “Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of [your] mercy.” It said, “Relieve…the souls in purgatory, especially the most abandoned.” That’s how the prayer ended. …that’s very different, very different…now the article that has appeared recently has said that the prayer underwent a certain metamorphosis over time. It’s almost as like there are three different versions of the prayer, and lead all souls to heaven especially those most in need of [your] mercy was the third form that it took.
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@arturovaldes546
The book is “Our Lady of Fatima” by Monsignor Finbar Ryan, O.P. Titular Archbishop of Gabula, printed 1939 Brown and Nolan Limited. Page 56.
O my Jesus forgive us! Save us from the fire of hell. Relieve the souls in Purgatory, especially the most abandoned.
@elviravaldes2538
The second half of the Fatima prayer has indeed been falsified. The original traditional words of BVM’s Fatima prayer: “O my Jesus forgive us! Save us from the fire of hell. Relieve the souls in Purgatory, especially the most abandoned.”
[R]efer to Page 140 & Pages 75-76 of “The Rosarian’s Handbook of the Society of The Rosary Altar[,]” Oct 1, 1942 Imprimatur +Francis J. Spellman, D.D. [,] Archbishop of New York. Also, refer to Page 56 of “Our Lady of Fátima[,]” Sept 27, 1939 by Monsignor Finbar Ryan, O.P. with Nihil Obstat by Joannes Kelly.
@paulacosta9550
Sorry Fr but you are wrong. The original prayer appears in the officials documents of Fatima. You can read it online in “Documentação critica de Fatima” on the website of the Sanctuary. All interviews of the children, letters and documents starting in May 1917 are there. The prayer is listed there too, in a report from Sept 1917. The prayer in Portuguese says[,] “Ò meu Jesus, perdoai-me, livrai-me do fogo do inferno. Levai as alminhas todas para o ceu principalemente as que mais precisarem.”
In English “O my Jesus, forgive-me, take (and not lead!) all little souls to Heaven, espec[ia]lly those in most need. The word mercy is not in the original prayer and it is indeed “all little souls”. And it’s not “forgive us” but forgive me.
The documents are free and anyone can access it, in Portuguese of course. I would love for people spreading these ridiculous conspiracy theories about Fatima to go to the source first, but it’s a lot of work to read all these documents! I did!
@2c3n1
William Thomas Walsh interviewed Lucia. On page 225, Our Lady of Fatima (1947):
“In many books about Fatima, the prayer Our Lady asked you to say after the decades of the Rosary is given in some such form as this: ‘O my Jesus, pardon our sins, save us from the fire of hell, have mercy on the souls in Purgatory, especially the most abandoned.’ Is that correct?” “No, it is not,” she replied positively. “The correct form is the one I have written in my account of the apparition on July 13: ‘O my Jesus, pardon us and save us from the fire of hell; draw all souls to heaven, especially those in most need.”
https://youtu.be/JNcysakX8l8?si=-1tGBOuXIYkJ9NUW
—What Catholics Believe - Highlights, “Has the Fatima ‘O My Jesus’ Prayer Been Falsified?” YouTube video, 9:24 minutes, October 11, 2025
I like this version better, which is closer to the purportedly original:
“O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell, grant relief to the souls in purgatory, especially the most abandoned.”
Most preferred version, although not entirely the same as the original:
“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, grant relief to the holy souls in purgatory, especially the most abandoned.”
Until the matter is entirely settled, I’d say there is nothing objectionable in petitioning for both the salvation of all souls—without assuming that everyone without exception is saved—as well as for the relief of the holy souls in purgatory.
Photo courtesy of Lawrence OP
ReplyDeletehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/26954937796/
Gonzalinho
“O my Jesus, forgive-me, take (and not lead!) all little souls to Heaven, espec[ia]lly those in most need. The word mercy is not in the original prayer and it is indeed ‘all little souls’. And it’s not ‘forgive us’ but forgive me.”
ReplyDeleteAssuming the above version is the correct one, the version popularized today is nonetheless salutary.
“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are in most need of your mercy.”
Substituting “lead” for “take” notably indicates that souls must exercise their own freedom in choosing to be saved.
Souls who are “in most need”—the attribute of God that is principally exercised in the salvation of souls is his mercy, which is infinite, for no one deserves heaven. It is therefore appropriate to add “in most need of your mercy.”
Gonzalinho